Tench...when?

[Moggy]

I know that there a few tench specialists on the forum and I am going to make a serious stab this year at cracking a virgin water over here in Denmark. I'm off soon to drag out a swim in the lakewith a view to getting started asap. When do you "tenchies" start your quest? Is it a matter of water temperature? This is a natural lake, quite shallow, well established weed beds, lots of big bream and other coarse species with the odd silver bounty drifting off course on their way up to the redds on the other side of the lake.

 

Cheers, Jon

[RUDD]

I know that there a few tench specialists on the forum and I am going to make a serious stab this year at cracking a virgin water over here in Denmark. I'm off soon to drag out a swim in the lakewith a view to getting started asap. When do you "tenchies" start your quest? Is it a matter of water temperature? This is a natural lake, quite shallow, well established weed beds, lots of big bream and other coarse species with the odd silver bounty drifting off course on their way up to the redds on the other side of the lake.

 

Cheers, Jon

Although they get caught during mild winter spells the best time is early spring.

I would say mid April to the end of June is prime Tench time as they wake up and will feed on various baits of all sizes. I belive this is due to there not being enough natural food for them to eat as the water wakes up after its winter slumber.

After June I have found they like to eat smaller baits ignoring big baits most of the time and put this down to the fact that there is more natural small sized food items for them to feed on.

 

Strangely I have found tackle does not have to be fined down to much - just bait sizes!

 

In the UK June used to be prime Tench time but only because of the old closed season preventing anglers fishing April, May and the start of June.

[Moggy]

Although they get caught during mild winter spells the best time is early spring.

I would say mid April to the end of June is prime Tench time as they wake up and will feed on various baits of all sizes. I belive this is due to there not being enough natural food for them to eat as the water wakes up after its winter slumber.

After June I have found they like to eat smaller baits ignoring big baits most of the time and put this down to the fact that there is more natural small sized food items for them to feed on.

 

Strangely I have found tackle does not have to be fined down to much - just bait sizes!

 

In the UK June used to be prime Tench time but only because of the old closed season preventing anglers fishing April, May and the start of June.

Right...with you Rudd. Now I've heard it can be beneficial to pre-feed in the desired area for a few days. to get them concentrated a bit. I've caught a single (Very fine specimen) on worm here. my informant tells me that I can pre-feed with maize for example, for a few days and then present a maize/worm cocktail on the day. your thoughts?

[BoldBear]

Hi Jon,

 

I may not be a Tench expert, but I love catching Tench, and this is how I approach my waters after them; and I hope this will help you catch a few more Tench.

 

'RUDD' has already explained the times during the year that we fish for them in the UK and info about baits etc. but hopefully the following info might put you onto a few more Tench.

 

Location:

Tench have small red eyes that are quite sensitive to bright light which is one of the reasons why large Tench are rarely caught on or near the surface and why they can be caught close to the margins in the early mornings and late evenings but tend to move away into deeper water or move into thick weed beds or under thick Lilly beds or amongst deeper gravel bars once the sun gets high in the sky away from the bright light.

 

Although Tench can be caught at night they are not really known for feeding right through the night and the best times to fish for them is either the early mornings and late evenings but you can sometimes follow them into the deeper water once the sun gets higher in the sky and still carry on getting bites.

 

In lakes that are shallow and don't have any deeper areas (estate lakes etc.) they tend to move into areas close to thick weedbeds or under thick lilly beds where they can escape the bright mid-day sun as it gets higher in the sky; which can sometimes make them hard to get at unless there is a cool breeze providing some ripple to break up the surface. however they will seldom travel far from shade at these times.

 

On a local estate lake I have noticed that once the lillies have started to die back in late autumn the larger Tench which are probably not so worried by predators often seem to steer clear of the rotting lillies and start to get caught more often in open water; I think this may be be caused by the stench of the rotting lilly leaves.

 

In the warmer months they often betray their presence by sending up clouds of 'tiny' bubbles moving along as they browse along the bottom looking for bloodworm and other food items in the gravel and silt; however they don’t always send up bubbles when feeding, so don't get too disapointed if you don't see clouds of pin bubbles errupting everywhere on your water.

 

On waters where the silt is fairly deep the Tench often don't see a bait presented directly on top of the silt because they are preoccupied with burying their heads in the deep silt looking for bloodworm etc.; which can be very frustrating for the angler as he sees the bubbles move right across where his bait is and just continue moving with only a tremble of his float as the Tench brushes past his line; however on waters with gravel bottoms or with a thinner layer of silt then these bubbles are a good indicator of good sport.

 

Baits:

Baits are many and can vary from water to water but some of my favourite Tench baits are Caster, Bread Flake, small lively Redworm, sweetcorn, fishmeal pellets (halibut/crab/Active-8) and fresh maggots (the list goes on).

 

Methods:

I much prefer to fish for Tench using a waggler fairly close in against beds of Lillie's or weed beds or under overhanging bushes however some of my Tench fishing is done out in the middle of the lake near to overgrown islands or weed/lilly beds or on the top and sides of gravel bars making casting a float impractable; in this case I will leger for them and for feed I use PVA stockings packed with loose feed or use a feeder if I can't reach them with my catapult or the wind is spreading my loosefeed too wide.

 

If I am float fishing I fish slightly overdepth with around 3 to 5 inches of line laying on the bottom.

 

Another good method to use on slightly harder bottoms is the 'Lift method' using a single large shot and a short hooklength and fishing slightly overdepth then putting your rod in its rests and winding in till your float cocks properly; this works brilliantly because of the way Tench often feed over hard bottoms; by tilting down and picking up your bait then returning to the upright position which results in your float lifting and starting to lay flat before sailing away; resulting in a Tench hooked cleanly in its bottom lip. (see picture below).

 

 

Groundbaits/Loose feed:

I often use loose feed containing samples of hookbait and other small morsels of bait (Casters/sweetcorn/small pellets etc.) but most often I lay a bed of good groundbait to try to get the Tench moving into my swim and getting their heads down over my bait.

Most good sinking groundbaits (not soft cloudbaits) are good especially if they contain either sweet Mollases, blood meal, corn meal and/or fishmeal, sprinkled with a few samples of whatever you are using on your hook.

 

I hope this helps you to catch one or two decent Tench and I look forward to reading your reports.

 

Tight lines

Keith (BoldBear)

Edited January 11, 2012 by BoldBear

[the real steady eddie]

I know that there a few tench specialists on the forum and I am going to make a serious stab this year at cracking a virgin water over here in Denmark. I'm off soon to drag out a swim in the lakewith a view to getting started asap. When do you "tenchies" start your quest? Is it a matter of water temperature? This is a natural lake, quite shallow, well established weed beds, lots of big bream and other coarse species with the odd silver bounty drifting off course on their way up to the redds on the other side of the lake.

 

Cheers, Jon

Raking the swim can be carried out on the day of fishing and the best groundbait in my opinion is an equal mix of brown crumb and a product called expo,i have had very good catches using these in conjunction with hookbaits such as corn,red maggots and dendrobenas(these tough little worms dont excrete the yellow fluid and are very attractive to the tincas).If you intend to fish a feeder or straight lead you need to keep your hooklength to 4 inches as this will ensure the minimum of lost fish.If you can float fish comfortably then this will always be the preferred method and as so expertly depicted in the drawing this is how you should approach the said set up,best regards and tight lines,eddie court(tenchfisher member) By the way we are always encouraging the addition of new members to our organization,details can be found on the tenchfishers website

[RUDD]

Right...with you Rudd. Now I've heard it can be beneficial to pre-feed in the desired area for a few days. to get them concentrated a bit. I've caught a single (Very fine specimen) on worm here. my informant tells me that I can pre-feed with maize for example, for a few days and then present a maize/worm cocktail on the day. your thoughts?

Pre baiting is always a hard question to answer when you dont know the water involved but here's what I would do:

 

1. Try and work out where and when you think the fish will be feeding.

Get down to the water as often as possible as it gets light or just before twilight in the evening and observe - look for fish rolling, bubbles and its worth watching the wild fowl who can give indications.

Use a marker rod to find features - weeds, gravel, ledges, bars etc.

 

2. Now you have found your spot mark it up on a spod rod, marker rod (you can just clip up to a waggler of feeder if needs be).

 

3. Work out a Pre baiting stratergy based on the amount of fish you think may be present taking into account other species present in the venue.

 

Remember that some species love some baits and dont seem to like others.

 

Decide what you are going to pre bait with and start on a little and often basis at the same time every day.

 

One tip is NOT to use live baits (apart from Casters) which can crawl away or bury themselves.

 

After a few days or a week increase the amount, then again and again - this depends on what you know is present and when you are going to fish.

 

My last prebaiting campaign lasted five weeks during a closed spell on a deep gin clear water that can be very hard but holds some very big fish - I found my spot and feed hemp and 4mm pellets, 1/4 pint in total plus a few hookbait samples every two evenings for two weeks.

Next two weeks the same but added 1/4 pint 6mm pellets and in the 4th week the same plus a hand full of 8mm pellets.

The Last week 1/4 pint hemp, 1/4 pint 4mm, 1/4 pint 6mm, 1/4 pint 8mm, a hand full of dead maggots, a handfull of casters and a handfull of corn every two evenings.

From that peg I caught big crucians, a 20lb + carp (an unknown one to the carp lads), some nice roach and some nice bream - the Tench were there as I saw them rolling in the evenings - will get one this year.

 

A good trick is to get other species feeding in the area which in turn attracts other species then nearer your fishing time cut out certain baits to deter the unwanted species.

You can get a good sized shoul of bream to clear an area of the bottom for you by using a cereal groundbait! This can work well during early spring as the Tench wake up as the silver fish tend to feed all year round.

 

I would say the best all round pre baiting bait to attract Tench is hemp that has been cooked in conjunction with betain and once cooling down had a good lump of molases or brown sugar added

then sealed in a bucket to ferment for a few days.

 

My biggest tip of all is to keep what you are doing SECRET or you may find another angler fishing your pre baited area - and keep away from popular areas if possible - it makes me chuckle how many featues I have found in pegs that other anglers consider poor or cant be bothered to walk that far etc etc

Edited January 12, 2012 by RUDD